Deals of the Day: AGL to Buy Nicor for $2.4 Billion

Deals of the Day gathers all the biggest news of the morning related to mergers and acquisitions, bankruptcies, financing and private equity. Deal Journal’s homepage is http://blogs.wsj.com/deals. You can see real-time updates of our posts and our favorite deal-related articles on other Web sites through our Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/wsjdealjournal.

Mergers & Acquisitions

Barnes & Noble: A major Borders shareholder proposed that the bookseller acquire much bigger rival Barnes & Noble, in a gamble to unite the two giant but struggling retailers at a time of major tumult in the industry. [WSJ]Related: The options market is of two minds about hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman’s overtures to bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. [WSJ]

J. Crew: Its CEO Mickey Drexler was negotiating a potential sale of the clothing company for nearly seven weeks before he informed the company’s board of his talks, according to the latest company securities filings. [WSJ]

Chrysler Financial: Two banking giants are in negotiations to purchase Chrysler Financial, the auto lender owned by Cerberus. [WSJ]

GNC: China’s Bright Food Group is close to a deal to buy U.S. vitamin retail chain for between $2.5 billion to $3 billion, people familiar with the matter said, the latest sign of growing Chinese appetite for U.S. companies. [WSJ]Related: Blackstone Group LP has teamed up with Bright Food for GNC. [Bloomberg]

Nicor: AGL Resources agreed to acquire Nicor for $2.4 billion in cash and stock, a deal that would create one of the largest natural-gas distributors in the U.S. [WSJ]

Sanofi-Genzyme: Sanofi-Aventis is unwilling to meet demands by Genzyme to raise its $18.5 billion offer and make a later payment based on sales goals for the drug Campath. [Bloomberg]

BP: The beleaguered oil company BP has sounded out a series of UK-focused energy companies about a potential sell-off of North Sea assets. [Daily Telegraph]

De La Rue: The banknote printing company rejected an £896 million takeover approach from François-Charles Oberthur Fiduciaire almost four weeks ago. [FT.com]

Financial Institutions

Exiting Citi: The U.S. Treasury sold the last of its Citigroup common shares in a $10.5 billion offering that capped the government’s biggest bank bailout and netted taxpayers a $12 billion profit. [WSJ]

The Game: The historic financial bailouts of 2008 and 2009 may have been necessary. But were they legal? [WSJ]

J.P. Morgan’s copper pile: J.P. Morgan has emerged as the mystery buyer of more than $1 billion of copper, accounting for more than 50% of all the metal stored in official London warehouses and stoking worries about an impending supply shortage. [WSJ]

Bankruptcy & Restructuring

Tribune: The company.’s bankruptcy judge gave hedge funds warring over the newspaper publisher’s reorganization two days to get their competing bankruptcy-exit plans ready for a vote by creditors. [Bloomberg]

Buyside

Loch Capital: The hedge fund, 0ne of three raided recently by the FBI, sent a letter to investors saying it is not a target of the government’s broad insider-trading investigation. [Boston Globe]

Capital Markets

Glencore: The world’s largest commodities trader is understood to be preparing for a £31 billion London IPO as early as next April. [Daily Telegraph]

Companies & Industries

Chicago startups: Chicago investors and entrepreneurs say Groupon’s visibility brings fresh attention to startup activity that already was humming, bolstering Chicago’s reputation as a place that nurtures new ideas from their earliest stages through maturity. [Chicago Tribune]

Xstrata: The mining company said that it’s on track to spend $23 billion up until 2016 for expansion, with a focus on coal, copper and nickel projects. The Switzerland-based company didn’t rule out further M&A activity but said focus is on organic growth. [WSJ]

Merck KGaA: The German drugmaker head of corporate finance said the compan will take a breather from pursuing larger takeover deals as it integrates its latest acquisition Millipore. [Reuters]

Comments (1 of 1)

Stop calling AGL-Nicor a nat-gas deal. Beware the conventional wisdom. Most financial media loves calling the acquisition of Nicor Inc. by AGL resources as a Natural Gas deal. They would all have us believe Nicor is a nat gas play. Let’s pump those brakes. Nicor Inc. (Nicor) is a holding company engaged in the gas distribution business. Nicor’s dealings involve shipping gas across the country. Explain why they have been doing so well even though natural gas is currently in a bear market. http://bit.ly/f3AUTa

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About Deal Journal

Deal Journal is an up-to-the-minute take on the deals and deal makers that shape the landscape of Wall Street, including mergers and acquisitions, capital-raising, private equity and bankruptcy. In short, wherever money changes hands. Deal Journal is updated throughout each trading day with exclusive commentary, analysis, data, news flashes and profiles. The Wall Street Journal’s David Benoit is the lead writer, with contributions from other Journal reporters and editors. Send news items, comments and questions to deals@wsj.com.